Persistence In Prayer Series

A fisherman's experiment is described in a tract. It tells of how he

caught a large black bass and instead of putting it in the frying pan he

put it in a glass tank. Each morning he would bring a minnow to the

tank and drop it in. The bass would make a dash for the minnow and

soon finish him off for breakfast. After a number of days of this he

placed a glass partition in the tank, and then dropped the minnow in

the side opposite from the bass. The big fish made his usual lunge but

bumped his nose against the glass. He did not give up easily, however,

but kept ramming the glass over and over again. Finally the blows

were too much and he ceased to try. After a few days of this

separation the partition was removed. The minnow and the bass

swam freely together. The minnow was now available for food but the

bass made no attempt to get it. Frustration had conditioned it to

accept failure, and it just gave up.

The same thing happens with people. When Lord Chamberlain

was asked why so many people failed he responded, "Because they

come to the point where they stop." Like the bass they get their nose

bumped against obstacles so often that they just quit. They give up,

lose heart, and do not have the courage to go on trying. This is a

primary cause for the high casualty rate in the battle of light against

darkness. Prayer is a basic weapon in this battle, and believers are

often disappointed in prayer at sometime. You've prayed and prayed

and it seems to do no good, and so you begin to wonder what is the use

of it. Some even conclude that it is no use, and so, like the bass, they

let their disappointments bring them to a state where they no longer

try. Jalouddin Rumi, and Eastern poet describes the process:

He prayed, but to his prayer no answer came,

And choked within him sank his ardor's flame.

No more he prayed, no more the knee he bent,

While round him darkened doubt and discontent.

I prayed he said but no one heard my prayer,

Long disappointment has induced despair.

Jesus knew that this could happen even to his own disciples, and

that is why He sought to prepare them for what was coming. He had

just been telling them about the trials ahead for Himself, and the

judgment to come. He told of the indifference of the people on the day

of Noah, and again in Sodom before its destruction. He said that

history will repeat itself and God's judgment will again fall on man.

Meanwhile life for His followers will not be a bed of roses. That is why

He tells them this parable. The unique thing about this parable is that

its purpose of clearly stated so that none can miss it. There is no

mystery at all, for as one has said, "The key hangs at the door." It

was told to the end that his own should keep on praying an never lose

heart. It is told to prevent Christians from becoming discouraged and

giving up on prayer.

Jesus would not bother to tell such a parable and have it recorded

for all generations if it did not deal with a very real and serious

danger. You do not tell your children about the danger of playing

with radium because you know they are not going to be playing with

any, but you do warn them of the danger of fire because you know it is

likely they will have the opportunity at some point. So also Jesus does

not waste inspiration on the impossible or improbable, but deals only

with the probable, likely and certain.

He knows that prayer will often seem like a fruitless weapon on

the battlefield of life, and that His disciples may often feel like

relegating it to the museum of religious relics, and seek more effective

methods of combating the enemy. He knew this and that is why He

told this parable. He wanted to stir them up to press on and not lose

heart, and to stick to their guns and persist in prayer at all times, and

under all circumstances. This is the stated purpose of the parable.

How then does Jesus accomplish this end? He does so by following a

simple but effective method of teaching involving three steps.

I. A CONTEMPORARY ILLUSTRATION.

In verse 2 Jesus draws a verbal picture of a typical situation in His

day, which is not really much different than what we have today. Here

was a public servant who had to be pressured into doing any serving of

the public. He was self-sufficient intellectual who neither feared God